Chapter Three
Lily
My heart is going to leap out of my throat. I am suffocating. But I still run as fast as I can in my heels with my dress bunched up in my fists. When I barge into the ballroom, no one even looks my way as I try to recover my bearings.
Breathe… In…out…in…
I need to get out, get away.
Is he really letting me go after what I saw tonight? Or is he just toying with me, letting me believe I have a chance to get away before he descends on me and tears my throat out with his teeth… Fangs?
Okay, Lily, enough of the paranormal romance you inhale like candy.
I sweep my gaze around, trying to find Father. When I find him and Daria in conversation with another family head, I walk up to him and try to sound inconspicuous. “Father, I am feeling unwell. I will take an Uber home and rest.”
Daria sneers. “Again? How will you ever find a suitable husband if you keep running from all the biggest events?” I refrain from telling her that a husband is the last thing I need, so I shrug and fish my phone out from my purse.
Somehow it is still clutched in my hand and hasn’t fallen during my flight.
Daria might think that getting married and popping out kids is the ultimate goal in a woman’s life, but it is not what I have in mind for myself.
While I turn away, Chiara walks towards us and gives me a questioning look.
I subtly shake my head and try to pull up the Uber app with trembling fingers.
Chiara trails behind me while I all but run out of the ballroom and down the stairs.
Once we are standing outside, I gulp in a lungful of fresh air, trying to gather my wits and ground myself so I don’t fall apart.
While we wait, Chiara takes my hand with concern and asks, “What happened, Lee? You look like you saw a ghost.”
A nervous laugh-sob escapes my lips. If only she knew!
I squeeze her hand. “I am just feeling unwell. Don’t worry, sis. You go enjoy yourself.”
She snorts. “If you mean me parading around and demonstrating commands like sit and jump, then yeah, I am having a marvelous time.”
She rolls her eyes. I wince. Her mother is hellbent on finding her daughter the perfect husband, and I would find the situation hilarious if Chiara wasn’t suffering so much from her scheming.
“Can I go home with you?” she whines.
“You know you can’t, sis. Your mother will make you pay.”
She sighs in defeat and returns inside with hunched shoulders as my ride pulls up.
I want to call her back and take her home with me, but it would only get us both in trouble, so I leave without her.
As soon as I am seated in the car, the events of the evening come crashing down on me.
My hands start to shake and I can feel my heart rate pick up.
Shit, I am going into shock.
Breathe, just breathe…
After a few breaths, I am feeling better. I need to get a grip. I need to get away. Away from this life, away from this world. Away from my father’s house and the families.
I need to run.
‘Run, Lily.’ I hear my mother’s voice.
‘The mafia only brings death and heartbreak. If you see them, run the other way!’
I want to, Mom. I want to, so much, but I can’t escape. Not yet. A quiet sob escapes my lips.
Maybe I could rent a place cheap enough not to impact my budget too much and further delay my dreams of opening my own vet clinic.
I also have to pay back my student loans as fast as possible.
Unlike Chiara, I don’t have a trust fund waiting for me and I have to scrape for every dime.
This is also the reason I endure staying at my father’s house.
At least he isn’t expecting me to pay any rent.
He merely tolerates me while Daria loathes me, but I endure. I know that one day I can leave it all behind like a bad dream and start living my real life. The life fate has intended for me.
The car pulls up in front of the Bianchi mansion’s gate and I get out, thanking the driver.
I greet the guard at the gate and walk inside. I head straight to the shower, needing to wash away tonight’s events. I’m chilled to the bone, my hands won’t stop trembling and the champagne I drank is crawling up my throat.
It feels like hours of scalding water pouring over me until I feel better enough to walk out and wrap myself into a soft towel. My body is numb but at least the chill has subsided
I stand over the sink, my eyes unseeing, my mind blank.
Despite the warm air lingering from the shower in the bathroom, shivers run down my spine. Tonight I encountered the devil, and even though on the outside nothing has changed, I sense that my life has taken a turn today.
What have I gotten myself into?
From the rumors I’ve heard about how things go in the famiglia, I shouldn’t have been able to walk out of that office alive. You can’t witness what I saw and walk away, pretending to forget. I crashed into the shadows, and now I have nowhere to hide from the monsters lurking in the darkness.
After a while, I wipe the fog off the mirror with my shaky hand and take in the reflection looking back at me. The woman in the mirror looks haunted, her pale skin making her eyes look huge, underlining the shadows underneath.
This woman is me… I am her.
‘Run, Lily.’
“I got this,” I whisper, trying to find new resolve in the mirror.